1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a laminating apparatus and a laminating method. More specifically, the present invention relates to a laminating apparatus and a laminating method for, when first and second members each having a predetermined laminating surface are laminated to each other, preventing air bubbles from remaining between the members.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventionally, there is known an organic electroluminescent device configured by containing an organic electroluminescent light emitting portion constituted by various kinds of electrodes and organic electroluminescent material and the like. An example of an organic electroluminescent device is one having a structure proposed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-182759. In this organic electroluminescent device, in order to reduce the thickness of the entire structure while protecting the organic electroluminescent light emitting portion, a sealing glass is laminated via a photo-curing resin onto a device substrate formed by stacking the organic electroluminescent light emitting portion onto a glass substrate. In this case, the lamination of the sealing glass is generally carried out in the following manner. A photo-curing resin is applied onto an entire or a part of the laminating surface of the device substrate into a uniform thickness. Then, a sealing glass held in a substantially horizontal state is placed and pressed onto the laminating surface of the device substrate.
However, in the above-described lamination of the sealing glass onto the organic electroluminescent device, when the sealing glass is brought into contact with the photo-curing resin at the first time, they are in surface-contact with each other. Therefore, air is likely to enter between the photo-curing resin and the sealing glass. The air that enters at this time does not easily escape outside even if the sealing glass is pressed toward the device substrate side. As a result, defective products with the air bubbles remaining therein are easily produced. Particularly, in recent years, there is a demand for large-sized organic electroluminescent devices. In the large-sized organic electroluminescent devices, air is more likely to enter between the photo-curing resin and the sealing glass, and the disadvantage as described above becomes more conspicuous. In addition, an organic electroluminescent device is also known where a light can be emitted from an organic electroluminescent light emitting portion toward the opposite side of the glass substrate. In this structure, an image display surface produced by the light emitted from the organic electroluminescent light emitting portion is provided on the surface of the sealing glass. In this case, if the air bubbles exist on the image display surface, there is also a disadvantage in that the image quality of the image display surface is deteriorated, resulting in significantly decreasing the value of the product.